Employees

Target 2015: Learning Organisation - Our learning strategy and opportunities support our employees to help them achieve their targets, deliver high performance and set the basis
for efficiency and innovation. Learning is a key performance driver within the adidas
Group and ensures the fitness of our employees

2011 Milestone

Based on the findings of the global employee survey, drive the engagement R2A ("Results-to-Actions") process in all business areas to further improve employee engagement.

Progress/Performance in 2011

Following our global employee engagement survey, which 90% of our workforce participated in, a comprehensive "Results-to-Action" process was initiated to address survey findings. In 2011, the focus of our "Results-to-Action" initiative was to maintain some of our top-scoring areas and improve upon areas of weakness. Since implementing the "Results-to-Action" teams, we have action plans in place in more than 83% of the organisation.

Target achieved

Additional Comments

We believe that employee satisfaction drives commitment, commitment drives engagement, and engagement drives business performance. Consequently, we have defined engagement as one of our Group’s key performance indicators for measuring our efforts to sustain a “performance culture”. To capture employee perception, we introduced formal engagement surveys in 2008.

Engagement surveys enable us to evaluate our position as the employer of choice for our employees and also provide a framework for benchmarking. In 2010, we conducted the first Group-wide engagement survey. We achieved an outstanding participation rate of 90% and an engagement score which places us close to the top-performing organisations within the consumer goods industry. Compared to 2008, when we conducted an employee survey in various regions, we were able to increase our engagement score significantly.

Areas for further improvement identified by employees included career development and transparency, availability of IT tools and performance recognition. As in previous years, based upon the feedback received, “Results-to-Action” teams were established to drive initiatives to enhance the Group’s performance. In 2011, the focus of our “Results-to-Action” initiative was to maintain some of our top-scoring areas and improve upon areas of weakness. Since implementing the “Results-to-Action” teams, we have action plans in place in more than 83% of the organisation. This means in more than four out of five adidas Group teams our managers are evaluating their engagement scores and working with their employees to improve. The adidas Group also took action at a strategic level, focusing on areas such as workspace, collaboration and knowledge management, employee careers, work-life-integration and more. “Results-to-Action” is becoming a way of working for the adidas Group.

2012 milestone

  • In 2012, some functions of the adidas Group will conduct a pulse check survey to review the impacts of our actions. In 2013, we will conduct our next global employee engagement survey across the adidas Group.

Target 2015: Talent acquisition - We become a world-class talent acquisition organisation
that utilises branding, strategic search and internal recruiting excellence to ensure
the continuous pipeline of top talent required to achieve business objectives

2011 Milestone

Focus on the activation of our concepts and tools that constitute our HR foundation and help us to become the employer of choice.

Progress/Performance in 2011

We further strengthened and expanded our key activities in the area of succession management, talent management, performance management, and diversity and work-life-balance programmes.

Largely achieved

Additional Comments

Our Human Resources management focuses on the activation of our concepts and tools that support and enhance our performance and leadership culture. We implemented a leadership calendar to lay out content, timing and functionality of all our leadership tools, be it succession management, talent management or compensation reviews, to mention just a few.

Succession management

The adidas Group succession management approach aims to ensure business continuity. We achieve this through a globally consistent succession plan which covers successors for director level positions and above. These positions and the respective successors are regularly discussed by senior management. The succession management information shows a clear picture of the successor readiness and development needs. Based upon this information, we draft individual development plans to prepare the successor for their potential next tasks. In addition, we use the successor information to create dynamic talent pools which provide us with additional flexibility in our succession management process. All information is consolidated in a succession management risk analysis.

The succession management process is supported by a system solution which hosts position and employee data related to performance, potential, career aspirations, mobility and other factors. Our system solution is applied in 91% of the adidas Group business units.

Performance management

Our global Performance Evaluation and Planning tool (PEP) is the cornerstone of performance management at the adidas Group. Based on business targets plus job tasks and competencies, each employee is evaluated and receives feedback at least once a year. Building on defined development goals, we offer and support our employees with targeted development activities both on- and off-the-job. Today, PEP is largely used in all business units of the adidas Group. The online version has coverage of 76% globally.

Diverse workforce to achieve global goals

As a global company, we understand that it takes people with different ideas, strengths, interests and cultural backgrounds to ensure we achieve our goals. A high degree of diversity is already represented within our workforce. At our corporate headquarters, for example, we have employees from more than 60 countries. We strive to assure an environment that embraces diversity through various initiatives, such as networking events, intercultural training and our work-life integration department.

In addition, starting in 2011, the adidas Group has set itself the goal of increasing the number of women in leadership positions. We are focusing mainly on our management development programmes where we want to increase the number of female participants to at least 35% starting in 2012. We recognise we have a role to play in supporting employees – especially women – who are striving to balance family life with a successful career. We are aware that this goal is not purely of a cultural nature, but has a tangible aspect to it as well. Therefore, among a number of tailored initiatives, we put a strong focus on work-life integration during the remodelling of our headquarters and have planned in parent-child offices and the investment into a childcare centre at our headquarters.

2012 milestones

  • Reach 100% online coverage of the Succession management system
  • Reach 96% online coverage of the Performance Evaluation and Planning tool
  • Create a Global Talent Management platform.

Target 2015: Leadership Excellence - Our leadership culture is recognised as
best-in-class by our employees and the external business world

Additional comments

Group-wide strategic business plan Route 2015

Considerable effort went into the formulation of our “Driving Route 2015” HR-related strategy which is summarised in three workstreams: Leadership (foster an open, non-political, fact-based and collaborative leadership from the top), People (systematically promote motivation and accountability through talent and performance management) and Capabilities (jointly define a focused capability building programme, establish and implement a sustainable capability management process to ensure that we instil a new way of working throughout the Group and achieve our ambitious goals).

2012 milestones

  • Rollout of a "Leadership Journey" for first and second management levels of the Group
  • Design future-oriented functional training platforms, focusing initially upon the commercial areas.

Downloads

This year our full set of performance data is available only in PDF.

Reporting approach

Our report focuses on the progress we have made in reaching the milestones we set ourselves for the year 2011. Additional information is available on our corporate website.

Read more about our reporting strategy

Suppliers

We are measuring our suppliers' compliance with our Workplace Standards and are meeting our requirements as a sponsor of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Read about our supplier milestones and targets

Environment

By 2015 we are aiming to reduce our relative environmental footprint by 15% compared with 2010 through making changes to processes across our business.

Read about our environment milestones and targets

Employees

Employee engagement, great talent development programmes and leadership excellence are key to strong business performance.

Read about our employee milestones and targets